stink of money

Three days later, the records they brought finally met my requirement of being 'meticulous'.

I nodded and took the three-foot-long booklet to the Imperial Study.

When Eunuch Yu saw that I had a bit of a headache, he immediately came over and asked me very politely, "What brings you here, Thirteenth Princess?"

"Wait for His Majesty, then we'll ask for the silver."

When Eunuch Yu saw the thick stack of books in my hand, his eyelids twitched involuntarily. He then lowered his head and said in a fairly even voice, "His Majesty is in a good mood today. The princess has come at just the right time."

"That's good."

Today's main purpose was to obtain silver, so I waited very politely outside the door until the ministers inside finished their meeting and came out, then I brushed past the prime minister and went inside.

The Emperor was indeed in a good mood today, with a smile on his face. He was quite calm when he saw me: "Thirteenth Sister has arrived?"

“Yes,” I said, bowing symbolically. “Your Majesty, these are the fruits of the Imperial Observatory’s hard work over the years. Since the Director has passed away, I am temporarily sending them to Your Majesty for your perusal.”

"Oh? Bring it here."

I handed him the booklet, and as the emperor turned the pages one by one, he nodded when he reached the last page, saying, "Not bad, not bad." Then he put the booklet aside.

I pressed my advantage: "I recently reviewed the Imperial Observatory's accounts and found no records of any rewards for the events listed in them. I wonder if Your Majesty has forgotten?"

The person on the throne was no longer calm: "The matters recorded by the Imperial Observatory are all the duties of a subject, and I have already paid them salaries, haven't I?"

"But all the records in this book are for great achievements. Take Princess Chuanguang Hall for example; it took dozens of magical artifacts to purify that dense malevolent energy. We need to replenish those artifacts! Even the small amount of malevolent energy that accidentally escaped caused quite a stir, which shows how immense that malevolent energy was... We should at least show some appreciation, otherwise it will affect the enthusiasm of those handling the matter, which wouldn't be good..."

He could tell I was there to ask for money, so he nodded and said, "Then I'll reward you with a thousand taels of gold."

"A thousand taels? That might not be enough! The bone knife that Chuanguangtang dug out is extremely malevolent and cannot be extinguished. We need to build a special wooden building to store it. We can't be careless, otherwise the malevolent energy might escape and cause further turmoil..."

The person on the throne sighed: "For the construction of the Imperial Observatory, you can just contact the Ministry of Works directly. The Ministry of Works will bring the materials and personnel to build it."

“That’s great,” I nodded. “But behind every achievement, there are many wounded people. I remember there are compensations for those who fight in wars. I think cultivators should have them too. Shouldn’t we treat everyone equally?”

"Alright," the emperor sighed again, "We'll provide compensation according to military regulations. You'll need to submit a list of names later."

“Alright! But…” I changed the subject: “Besides people, there are also magical artifacts. Many of these artifacts are inlaid with gems, but they’ve all been ruined by wear and tear and need to be replaced…”

The person on the throne had completely lost his temper: "How do you plan to make amends?"

"It's actually quite simple. The magical artifacts are all relatively small, and the gemstones used are also relatively small. However, the quality must be good for them to function properly. If the national treasury has any smaller gemstones, the Imperial Observatory staff can choose from them..."

"Alright," the emperor pinched the bridge of his nose, "granted."

"To be honest, during his fifty years in office, the Director of the Imperial Observatory never hosted a banquet for anyone in the Imperial Observatory. Now that he has left, everyone is in low spirits, and many have even said they want to go back to the mountains, so..."

“Alright, you decide on the location, and the Ministry of Revenue will handle the accounting.”

"Alright!" I nodded. "This is the reward..."

The emperor pinched the bridge of his nose again, and reluctantly compromised: "I will give you a maximum reward of three thousand taels of silver, no more."

"Alright," I clicked my tongue, "I'll go back and appease them. I'm sure they'll appreciate your wisdom and might, Your Majesty."

The emperor was already quite impatient and just waved his sleeve at me. I knew when to stop and said goodbye, "Then I'll take my leave, Your Highness."

When I left the Imperial Study, I saw the Prime Minister still waiting outside. I went over to him and asked, "What's wrong? Do you have something to report? He might not be in a good mood right now. If it's not important, let's choose another day."

"Choose a date?" The prime minister looked at me with amusement. "Alright, let's choose a date then." After saying that, he naturally walked out with me.

In a good mood, I asked the prime minister, "What does three thousand taels of gold roughly mean? It could probably cover a year's worth of unpaid salaries for the Imperial Observatory?"

The prime minister raised his eyebrows: "The salary of a cultivator in the Imperial Observatory is one tael per month, and that of a manager is two taels per month. One tael of gold is ten taels of silver. You can calculate it yourself."

I started counting on my fingers: "The Imperial Observatory has a total of sixty-four people, divided into three courtyards. Each courtyard has only one head, two supervisors, and one director. So, the monks' salaries would be six hundred and ninety-six taels of silver. Then, the three heads would receive seventy-two taels; the two supervisors would receive three taels, also seventy-two taels; and finally, the director would receive at least five taels, so that's sixty taels. That adds up to nine hundred taels of silver..."

When I got to this point, I jumped up with joy: "That's enough!"

“Of course,” the prime minister nodded, “The Imperial Observatory is a year behind on its salaries?”

“Yes!” I nodded. Apart from Chef Deng and the Supervisor, the Prime Minister was the only elder left. I didn’t hide anything: “The Supervisor used most of his salary to buy and sell magical artifacts, so he owes a salary…”

"Oh, no wonder. So how did you get these five thousand taels?"

"I'm just being shameless. I said that the people below have worked hard and made great contributions, and so on. He probably realized that he wouldn't leave until I got the reward, so he gave in."

"It has to be you!" the prime minister chuckled.

"Not only that, I also plan to ask the Imperial Concubine and the Crown Prince for another round of compensation. After all, I helped them a lot, so it's only right to give them some reward for their hard work."

"Hmph, not a bad idea."

"Speaking of which, Prime Minister, although I have obtained the money, the people in the Imperial Observatory have little concept of money. We will also have to deal with many other parties later. I would like to find someone who is more knowledgeable about prices to keep an eye on things. Do you have anyone you can recommend?"

"This... is not easy to control," he shook his head. "Even an honest person can easily become greedy when facing a group of people who don't know the prices of goods every day. If they do something carelessly, the Imperial Observatory's money will not be enough..."

"Oh? What should we do then? Do you have a solution?"

"Here's what we'll do: you find two groups of people from different factions to help you with the accounting each month. One group should look for people in the Ministry of Revenue, and the other group should look for people in the mortal realm. You should also have your own people review the results. That will make things much easier."

"Our own people? Where am I supposed to find someone who knows how to calculate?"

"Foolish! Why not just ask me or Muli? Every household has a trusted accountant; they can just borrow one." The prime minister paused here, "Besides, there's also Ashi later. He will naturally find suitable people to help."

"Yeah, we still have Ah Shi, so we don't have to worry anymore."

The prime minister looked at me as if I were a hopeless junior and said disdainfully, "So, are you going to go straight out of the palace to find the crown prince now?"

"But what about the Imperial Concubine's side?"

"I'll just send a message to the Imperial Concubine. The servants will then deliver the silver to the Imperial Observatory. How much do you want?"

I silently extended a hand: "I plan to ask her for five thousand taels of silver."

"Hmm, not many."

"So there's no problem then?" I looked at the Prime Minister gratefully: "Then thank you very much, Prime Minister. Do you think it's unreasonable for me to ask the Crown Prince for ten thousand taels?"

The prime minister glanced at me and said, "The crown prince's life is extremely precious."

So, I can ask for more? I tentatively probed, "Thirty thousand taels?"

"Yes," the prime minister nodded, "He is worthy of his status."

"Wow... now the Imperial Observatory won't have to worry about money!" I exclaimed, jumping for joy.

This earned him a mocking laugh from the prime minister: "It's just a little bit of silver, why are you so happy? If you like silver, I'll give you all the silver in my household."

"Huh? Isn't that a bad idea?"

"He says it's not good, but he's all smiles." The prime minister shook his head: "I'm already this old, what do I need so much silver for? I'll have my steward send it over later, consider it a donation, to support the Imperial Observatory's righteous act of exorcising demons."

I was about to agree, but then I thought of another aspect and shook my head: "Forget it, Wu Qing is right. Cultivators are supposed to be celibate. If there's too much money, it's inevitable that the people below will have wild thoughts. Let's just forget about it."

"You can register this money in your own name, and then decide for yourself whether to use it or not, right?"

"But I don't really like anything. What's the point of having so much money? We can't even use it all... As long as there's enough money for the Imperial Observatory to keep going, that's fine."

"Isn't that perfect? ​​You can also put the gratitude of the Imperial Concubine and the Crown Prince under your name. That way, the people below won't be tempted, and since you're not interested in silver, it can stay in the Imperial Observatory for a long time. Maybe it will really come in handy in the future?"

"That's true! Anyway, money is money no matter where it is. I can just take it out when I need it."

The prime minister nodded: "That makes sense."

"Very well then, thank you very much, Prime Minister."

The prime minister waved his hand dismissively, saying, "It doesn't matter, money is money everywhere anyway."

When we arrived at the palace gate, chatting and laughing, we found that Mu Li was already waiting there. When he saw us coming, he bowed to the prime minister and said, "Greetings, Prime Minister."

"Yes." The prime minister nodded.

"Have you been waiting here for a long time?" I naturally took his arm.

The prime minister frowned and said, "What kind of behavior is this? Let go."

“Oh,” I nodded and let go of her hand.

Muli didn't mind, just smiled and leaned closer to me, saying, "It really isn't very good."

"Hmm," the prime minister gave Muli an approving look, then looked at me: "Let's go, get in my carriage, let's leave the palace first."

“Okay,” I said, pulling Muli along as we boarded the prime minister’s carriage. Before long, we arrived at the crown prince’s residence.

The prime minister dropped me and Muli off and left, only saying, "Take care of yourselves."

I nodded: "Of course, of course, Prime Minister, please take care."

He responded with a cold snort and a glare.